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The variations were very tricky. I looked until I saw a breakthru and there were probably others (but maybe deeper calculation needed). I guess Naka couldnt find a breakthru that satisfied him.
The commentators are GM Yannick Pelletier (Switzerland), IM Werner Hug (Switzerland) and guests, GM Peter Leko (Hungary) and GM Jan Timman (Netherlands).
The big game is between Nakamura and Carlsen. In the Norwegian newspaper VG Direct, Magnus’s manager Espen Agdestein, says that Nakamura has a big mouth and plenty of trash talk. He’s a pretty nice guy, but even the image is large. They are in a sense rivals. Nakamura has beaten Carlsen in blitz but never in a normal chess game.
During the World Cup match between Carlsen and Anand, Nakamura went on Twitter and borrowed a character from Lord of the Rings to illustrate the tremendous strength of Carlsen, “I’m begining to realize that I am the only person who can stop Sauron in chess history”.
ChessBomb fans habitually call Gelfand, Gandalf, another LOTR character.
++++++++++
The first game to finish is Aronian-Gelfand with a draw.
Zurich Chess Challenge
Classic
Round Three
February 1, 2014
Aronian, Levon-Gelfand, Boris
E60 King’s Indian, 3.g3
Because the players had a draw before the 40th move, they have to play a rapid game for the benefit of the spectators – but it doesn’t count!
++++++++++
Nakamura has Carlsen on the ropes and they are talking of a loss for him. On ChessBomb the kibitzers are wondering if Nakamura will overextend himself and let Carlsen get a draw. Actually, on move 26 White played Rdh1 when [26. hxg6 fxg6 27. Rdh1 Rf7 28. Qe6 Kf8 29. Nf5 Nbxc4 30. Bxc4 Nxc4 31. d6 Qd7 32. Qxc4 b5 33. Qd5 Qb7 34. Qxb7 Rxb7 35. Nxd4 exd4 36. e5 Ke8 37. Kc2 Rg3 38. Rxh7 Rxh7 39. Rxh7] is winning. The computer sees this but the commentators do not.
Nakamura seems very confident and Carlsen, worried.
ChessBomb says that Frodo has thrown the ring into Mount Doom and Sauron is dead.
Suddenly Nakamura blunders and the game is equal again. 37.d6? At the time control he blunders again with 40. Qh5 and Stockfish says that he is losing. What a turnaround. One of the kibitzers says “If you try to shoot at the devil, you had better not miss”. Another: Rule #1: MC always wins. Rule #2 If you think that’s wrong, read Rule #1.
Nakamura is shaking his head. Carlsen is looking intently at the board because he is winning now.
Zurich Chess Challenge
Classic
Round Three
February 1, 2014
Nakamura, Hikaru-Carlsen, Magnus
E20 Nimzo-Indian, Kmoch Variation
(ChessBase) There are simply no words to describe what happened. It would have been Nakamura's first win against Carlsen in classical chess and it was close to being a complete domination. Nakamura played better, understood the position better, and yet when it came to giving the final blow he blanked out and he even lost the game.
The game was seen with intensity by grandmasters and spectators all over the world. Today the playchess server had almost 9000 users connected simultaneously - most of them watching the Nakamura-Carlsen game! Carlsen remarked after the game that he was sure there were multiple ways of winning, but as long as material was equal and nothing immediate was hanging all he could do was play moves and hope to get lucky. He also pointed out that Nakamura doesn't usually get these kinds of chances against him.
- Naka's problem is he celebrates before crossing the bridge, you could see on his face during live streaming that he was way too confident!!
- Amazing swindle. Nakamura's face expressions and whole body movement when black played 39...Qxe4 and it dawned on him that he can't even find equality (right after realizing he had lost his advantage) were priceless.
- ...class, alas, ...class is permanent;-)
- A +10 eval is temporary but losing streak, losing streak is permanent.
- Got to feel sorry for Hikaru who must have thought the win was in the bag
- Nakamura-Carlsen among the top story on several Norwegian online newspapers
- One of the most titanic struggles I’ve ever witnessed. And I mean in life - Carlsen-Nakamura
- Poor Nakamura, having Carlsen on the ropes like that but losing instead in the end. Brutal.
- Naka-Carlsen -- the winning plan was to play Qf2 or Qf3 with idea Rxh7 Qxh7 Nh6+...but how many saw that without an engine?
- (Susan Polgar) If Magnus plays 40…Rd3, it will be almost over. The swindle of the year so far.
- No wonder Hikaru can’t win! He is using The One Ring himself.
- (Peter Leko) Nakamura is an expert at delivering mate even when there isn’t any
- This will either destroy nakamura or turn him into an even better player. Tough one to take.
- Obviously Carlsen was lucky today. But he is creating his own chances to get lucky, by finding annoying moves even in dire straits.
By the way, many great players, including WCs Lasker Tal and Fischer, or top players Morphy, Larsen have been said to be lucky. In the great New York tournament of 1923, Lasker won half his games thanks to blunders from his opponents in winning positions. Mind you, Lasker prodigious tenacity and defense skills were the cause of this luck.
- Naka makes it to easy to tease him after his tweets and defeats. You couldnt make this stuff up.. :).
- Nakamura's mistake was quite human. The commentators (Pelletier, Hug and Leko), didn't see d6 as a mistake at all. Quite the contrary, they thought it was a crushing blow after which Carlsen could only resign.
- It was a very exciting game to watch. I was rooting for Nakamura to finally get his first win over Carlsen (even though if I had to choose, I'm more of a Carlsen fan), but it was fine drama the way it went. I can live with games like this :-)
- Nakamura profited from his opponent letting a probable win slip yesterday, now it happened to him the other way round. Such things do happen, how improbable they may seem on this player level. And both games were not trivial to evaluate without any engine help.
It would be easier to feel sorry for him if he wouldn't have a history of silly remarks, in part overestimating himself (the only one left to beat Carlsen etc.) and in part lacking a bit of respect towards others.(remarks about Kasparov and others).
In the game today Carlsen has played heavily into Nakamura's hands in the opening, giving him exactly the kind of position he likes to play and plays really well. And he did play well up to the critical point of being able to crush his opponent.
Carlsen obviously feels in great shape, since the burden of becoming world champion, to confirm his extra class with this title, is off his shoulders once and for all.
He has good reasons to feel confident, and he obviously enjoys playing less controlled and more aggressive chess again, which is fine for everyone! He just shouldn’t think he can work miracles and manage any inferior position, just with the help of some creative ideas, tenacity and his deep chess understanding. I think this warning came just in time before the Caruana game. ;-)
A Nakamura with consecutive wins over Anand and Carlsen, or even winning the strongest tournament so far, would probably have been hard to bear, so it may be better this way. ;-)
Last edited by Wayne Komer; Saturday, 1st February, 2014, 06:17 PM.
Reason: gave nakamura-carlsen complete game score
I had a chance for to listen commentaries by Aronian and Gelfand on the N-C game. Gelfand told that he liked Black position (after 24...Nb6) :) Though later he corrected himself that maybe he overestimated.
The commentators are GM Yannick Pelletier (Switzerland), IM Werner Hug (Switzerland) and guest, GM Peter Leko (Hungary).
For drawing under 40 moves yesterday, a rapid game was played between Gelfand and Aronian. Because of the interest in the Nakamura-Carlsen game, nobody seemed to have seen the rapid one. Here it is:
Zurich Chess Challenge
Rapid Show
Round Three
February 1, 2014
Gelfand, Boris-Aronian, Levon
E01 Catalan
Nakamura had a winning position yesterday in his game with Carlsen but lost. It would have been his first win against the present World Champion in over twenty classical games. Aronian as white has a huge score against Nakamura, so Hikaru has his work cut out for him today.
There were a couple of interesting comments on ChessVibes on the game yesterday:
- Magnus not uncommonly shows a willingness to risk being worse, knowing that he can outplay anyone in the middle- and end-game. This time he crossed too far over the line.
Nevertheless, after suffering terribly, he immediately saw the hole in white's mover d6 -- which the commentators (along with Naka) thought was the winning continuation -- and played flawlessly thereafter. Quite often when analyzing the completion of a game where one side reaches a dominating position, one notices that that the player who is winning missteps. It certainly seems to me that in the great majority of cases, the player who has been suffering in a lost position is too demoralized to spot the opportunity and pounce on it. Not so here.
- Nakamura needs to work; hard. I think that, after today's game (after this genuinely bizarre/comedic/emotionally sinking game with Carlsen), many people have come to realize how badly he needs to work on these things. I mean, his lack of discipline.
People around him should push him and insist to the point of annoyance over these weaknesses of his character: he needs to reach that state of self-discipline that lifts oneself to the point of self-mastery. People around him owe him that. His talent is unquestioned here. But he can't handle tense situations where the path towards victory or particular goal is not an obvious, easy, short one. Today's position was within his reach to solve, yet it wasn't trivial. So many, many bullet games can end up spoiling you, after all, and Nakamura's lack of patience and rigour told the tale today.
++++++++++++++++++
Aronian had a good position out of the opening and slowly increased his advantage to the win. Both players come in for the press conference, explain briefly and get an applause from the audience.
Zurich Chess Challenge
Classic
Round Four
February 2, 2014
Aronian, Levon-Nakamura, Hikaru
E63 King’s Indian, Fianchetto, Panno System
Magnus comes in to the press conference alone and talks confidently of his game. His exchange sacrifice 22. Rxf7 was at the right time and he was in no danger of losing and Caruana’s king is always in the open. He felt he always had compensation for the sacrifice.
Zurich Chess Challenge
Classic
Round Four
February 2, 2014
Carlsen, Magnus-Caruana, Fabiano
C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence
Anand seems to have recovered from his bad form and was quite happy at the press conference. During the analysis there, Anand found a mistake in a line which would have given Boris good chances (around 23.Ne2?). He seemed to think it of no consequence since both players missed it.
Zurich Chess Challenge
Classic
Round Four
February 2, 2014
Gelfand, Boris-Anand, Viswanathan
D11 QGD Slav, 4.e3
So Numbers 1 and 2 won today. Both are confident. Nakamura is bloody but unbowed. Anand seems to be getting back his old enthusiasm. In the Live Ratings Carlsen has 2882.6 and Aronian 2835.5.
The commentators are GM Yannick Pelletier (Switzerland) and IM Werner Hug (Switzerland
Yesterday Charles Aznavour was in the audience. He has been described as the French/Armenian singer, songwriter, public activist and diplomat. The 89-year-old chatted with Levon Aronian before the round and sat and watched his game.
Hikaru’s stepfather, Sunil Weeramantry, was in the audience. He was an early coach of his son. Some may have a copy of his book Best Lessons of a Chess Coach.
+++++++++++
The first game to finish today was Anand-Carlsen. It was dead equal through the whole hour and fifteen minutes it took to play it. The players made sure to go to move 40 so that they would not have to have a show rapid game. Both were quite relaxed during the press conference.
Zurich Chess Challenge
Classic
Round Five
February 3, 2014
Anand, Vishy-Carlsen, Magnus
C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence
Nakamura-Gelfand is a draw. It seems there is no way to progress. Both players come to the press conference. Boris rails against officials who think that players lack fighting spirit. Wesley So-Boris Gelfand, Tata Steel 2014 is quoted. There, Boris played 9…O-O and lost – but not because of the opening. In any case, the players must have a show rapid game very soon.
Zurich Chess Challenge
Classic
Round Five
February 3, 2014
Nakamura, Hikaru-Gelfand, Boris
B30 Sicilian Defence
The last game to end is between Caruana and Aronian. After 4.5 hours they are in an endgame with White R,N and pawns vs R,B and pawns. Houdini thinks that White is much better.
Zurich Chess Challenge
Classic
Round Five
February 3, 2014
Caruana, Fabiano-Aronian, Levon
C89 Ruy Lopez, Marshall Counter-Attack
One guy on ChessBomb speculates that Aronian is paying the price for having stayed up all night drinking wine with Charles Aznavour. Unlikely!
It was a long game – 5.5 hours. Both players come to the press conference. Aronian is critical of his play in the endgame. Aronian had never lost a game in the Marshall until now but as he says, “It was bound to happen!” (laughter) Now he can relax.
++++++++++
Tomorrow is the rapid round with five points possible, if you win all your games!
Carlsen didn’t look too happy, having lost two rapid games, even though he won the tournament. Aronian said that he would only play training games before the Candidates’.
Viewers’ Comments
- Not many players can say they have won against Aronian's Marshall gambit. Congratulations to Caruana !
- Anand and Carlsen actually replayed the moves from one of their WCC games in the Rapid. This, after making meaningless moves in their Classical draw in order to reach 40+ moves and avoid a compulsory exhibition game.
- Caruana has made a bold statement that he may be a future challenger for Magnus. Honestly, I had expected better from Magnus for today; he looked vulnerable in the rapids, sort of like a 'mere mortal', if you know what I mean.
- Did you miss the classical game between Magnus and Fabiano? The one where the World Champion crushed him thoroughly? Yeah Caruana did well in the rapid, but he finished on an even score in the classical and lost the only "serious" game he had with Magnus.
- True, this format is totally ridiculous! When I take my book of ZURICH 1953 (the one by Najdorf, mind you), I see there were 30 rounds!!! And the playing field had players like: Smyslov, Petrosian, Bronstein, Euwe, Najdorf, Taimanov, Keres, Geller, Reshevsky, ... And now what is this?? 1 day of blitz, 1 day of rapid and a few rounds of real chess? Come on.... how to kill a historical event!
- If Caruana did not qualify then he does not deserve to play the Candidates. He is a fantastic player and his time will come. If Anand does not win the Candidates he will have to fight on equal term next time with the rest. That will show his real worth.
(TWIC) - Levon Aronian beat Carlsen in a very controlled way in the 2nd round, a good opening led to big advantages on the board and clock which he finished nicely. Carlsen had the opportunity to strike back with a win in the 3rd round with a big advantage on board and clock against Hikaru Nakamura but he slowed down a never really found a winning plan. Apparently he left the board looking extremely annoyed and the following game against Fabiano Caruana again he got himself in trouble even after at least equalising from the opening and went down to a loss. This left Carlsen still needing a draw to win the whole tournament. Anand had no clue this was the case after having just drawn a marathon game against Gelfand. Only when Carlsen played down one of the most drawish variations of the Berlin did the penny drop.
Last edited by Wayne Komer; Tuesday, 4th February, 2014, 05:50 PM.
Reason: added comments and commentary
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